Tag: arab

In a part of the world better known for towering skyscrapers and oil than for its startup scene, Gulf Arab entrepreneurs might be seeing bright times ahead. That’s according to Fadi Ghandour, executive chairman of Wanda Group, whose venture capital fund invests in tech companies all over the Middle East and North Africa. Now that oil prices are dramatically down from their October highs, the veteran Middle East investor says the market moves “will definitely be a blessing in disguise” and in tha

In a part of the world better known for towering skyscrapers and oil than for its startup scene, Gulf Arab entrepreneurs might be seeing bright times ahead. That’s according to Fadi Ghandour, executive chairman of Wanda Group, whose venture capital fund invests in tech companies all over the Middle East and North Africa.

“For years we’ve said there is an inverse relationship between how change happens on the regulatory environment and the price of oil — the lower the price of oil, the faster the change process happens,” Ghandour told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble on Thursday, pointing to Arab Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates whose economies have historically been dependent on hydrocarbon revenues.

Now that oil prices are dramatically down from their October highs, the veteran Middle East investor says the market moves “will definitely be a blessing in disguise” and in that it will force the development of sustainable, knowledge-based economies and jobs. He believes that startups founded five or more years ago are now reaching their maturity stage, meaning there will be more businesses scaling up in the next several years — if they can get the necessary support.

“These companies born somewhere around 2011, 2012, have raised much more money, they are growing much faster, the region is adopting mobile smartphone technology much faster, they are interacting much faster and at a much larger scale, specifically in Saudi Arabia,” Ghandour said.

“This is the time when there is size, there is scale, and the big funds globally who don’t want to take the risk early on, are going to be looking for entry into a market that they don’t have much presence in.” He pointed to New York-based global equity firm General Atlantic’s investment of $120 million in Dubai-based website Property Finder last November. The Middle East real estate platform was founded in 2007 and has been profitable since 2013.

Investments in Middle East and North Africa (MENA)-based startups went up by 31 percent between 2017 and 2018 to $893 million, with 366 deals made, according to Magnitt, a regional data platform for investors. The database also found that more than 155 institutions invested in MENA startups in 2018, 30 percent of which were from outside the region and 47 percent of which had not previously invested in the region.

British academic Matthew Hedges, who was given a life sentence in the United Arab Emirates on charges of espionage, has been pardoned with immediate effect. According to Hedges’ family, he was researching the Arab country’s domestic and foreign security strategy, as well as its role in the Yemen war. He was held in solitary confinement and not allowed legal representation in his first two court appearances, according to media reports and Hedges’ family members. The Emirati Ministry of Foreign Af

British academic Matthew Hedges, who was given a life sentence in the United Arab Emirates on charges of espionage, has been pardoned with immediate effect.

The sudden development overturns a life sentence handed down by an Abu Dhabi court on November 21. It comes more than six months after the 31-year old Durham University PhD candidate was first imprisoned.

Hedges was detained on May 5 while leaving the country via Dubai airport after a two-week visit. He was arrested for allegedly “seeking classified information on the UAE” and asking sensitive questions about various government departments involved in national security. According to Hedges’ family, he was researching the Arab country’s domestic and foreign security strategy, as well as its role in the Yemen war.

He was charged with “spying for a foreign country, jeopardizing the military, political and economic security of the state,” but the ruling was not final and allowed him the right to appeal. The academic has consistently denied the charges, maintaining he was carrying out research on the Arab Spring’s impact on Emirati foreign policy.

The UAE’s attorney general said Hedges confessed to the spying charges, but his family said he was made to sign a confession statement written in Arabic, a language he does not speak. He was held in solitary confinement and not allowed legal representation in his first two court appearances, according to media reports and Hedges’ family members.

The Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation has denied Hedges was given documents he did not understand. Its head of legal affairs Abdullah Al Naqbi said in a statement last week that Hedges was given a court-appointed lawyer, and treated fairly and in accordance with the UAE constitution.

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt publicly expressed their concern over the case, stressing the urgency of finding a solution with the UAE as the two countries have been longtime allies on trade, security and defense. May told the House of Commons on Wednesday that “we will continue to press this matter at the highest level with the Emiratis.”

The UAE government on Monday described the pardon as part of orders issued for the country’s National Day anniversary, December 2, which this year marks the 47th year since the union of the seven emirates that form the UAE. Hedges was one of more than 700 prisoners pardoned by UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan in honor of the day.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which together lead a coalition of Arab states fighting against in Yemen against the Houthi movement that controls the capital, pledged a new $500 million food aid programme for Yemen on Tuesday. The programme was announced by Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabi’ah, general supervisor of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Centre for Humanitarian Relief and Works, at a joint press conference in Riyadh with Reem al-Hashimy, UAE Minister of State for International Coop

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which together lead a coalition of Arab states fighting against in Yemen against the Houthi movement that controls the capital, pledged a new $500 million food aid programme for Yemen on Tuesday.

The programme was announced by Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabi’ah, general supervisor of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Centre for Humanitarian Relief and Works, at a joint press conference in Riyadh with Reem al-Hashimy, UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said on Tuesday he regrets the continuation of conflict with other Arab states, but added that “crises will pass,” outlining the nation’s economic achievements over the past year. The country would continue to develop its oil and gas industries as it is keen to preserve its status as the top liquefied natural gas exporter in the world, and that the country had grown its exports by 18 percent last year and slashed spending by 20 percent, Tamim said in

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said on Tuesday he regrets the continuation of conflict with other Arab states, but added that “crises will pass,” outlining the nation’s economic achievements over the past year.

The country would continue to develop its oil and gas industries as it is keen to preserve its status as the top liquefied natural gas exporter in the world, and that the country had grown its exports by 18 percent last year and slashed spending by 20 percent, Tamim said in a speech to the Arab state’s shura council.

Qatar’s currency has preserved its value since the start of the rift last year and the economy has diversified to overcome the impact of sanctions imposed by other Arab states, Tamim said.

Malaysia can lay claim to be the center of the world’s global Islamic economy, but the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is hot on its heels, according to new research. The “State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2018/19,” commissioned by the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC) and produced by Thomson Reuters, shows a narrowing gap between the two hubs. The Islamic economy is the Muslim-majority countries that have financial sectors and economies which comply with Islamic law. The repo

Malaysia can lay claim to be the center of the world’s global Islamic economy, but the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is hot on its heels, according to new research.

The “State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2018/19,” commissioned by the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC) and produced by Thomson Reuters, shows a narrowing gap between the two hubs. The Islamic economy is the Muslim-majority countries that have financial sectors and economies which comply with Islamic law.

“Although Malaysia once again tops the Global Islamic Economy Indicator, the UAE ranks in first place across the remaining five sectors — halal food, halal travel, modest fashion, halal media and recreation, and halal pharmaceuticals and cosmetics — compared to three sectors in 2017/18,” the research said. The report evaluates the quality of the overall Islamic economy ecosystem including social considerations relative to a country’s size.

Malaysia’s lead is supported by its dominant Islamic finance ecosystem, but the UAE (which consists of seven seven emirates including Abu Dhabi and Dubai) is making progress to narrow the gap, according to the man tasked with that job.

“The Islamic economy sector has grown in importance over the last few years, and the year-on-year growth has been quite significant,” Abdulla Mohammed Al Awar, the CEO of the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre, told CNBC’s “Capital Connection.”

The center aims to make Dubai the global capital for the Islamic economy, and position Dubai as a leading engine of Islamic finance and a solutions provider for the halal industry.

“Ever since the launch of our strategy in 2013, we’ve witnessed the local growth of the Islamic economy in the Emirate of Dubai,” Al Awar added.

“We did a measure of that in 2017, and realized that the contribution of the Islamic economy sectors in the Emirate of Dubai was close to 8.3 percent, which is close to $9 billion in terms of the contribution to GDP (gross domestic product), so that’s significant that there is another layer of economic contribution that was in place after that vision,” Al Awar said.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday that an unnamed U.S.-allied country in the Persian Gulf was behind an attack on a military parade that killed 25 people and wounded around 70. Saturday’s attack, in which militants disguised as soldiers opened fire on an annual Iranian military parade in the oil-rich southwest, was the deadliest attack in the country in nearly a decade. Initially, authorities described the assailants as “takfiri gunmen,” a term previously used to describe the Islamic S

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday that an unnamed U.S.-allied country in the Persian Gulf was behind an attack on a military parade that killed 25 people and wounded around 70.

Rouhani did not identify those behind Saturday’s attack, which was claimed by an Arab separatist group. He could have been referring to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates or Bahrain — close U.S. military allies that view Iran as a regional menace over its support for militant groups across the Middle East.

“All of those small mercenary countries that we see in this region are backed by America. It is Americans who instigate them and provide them with necessary means to commit these crimes,” Rouhani said.

Saturday’s attack, in which militants disguised as soldiers opened fire on an annual Iranian military parade in the oil-rich southwest, was the deadliest attack in the country in nearly a decade. Women and children scattered along with once-marching Revolutionary Guard soldiers as heavy gunfire rang out in Ahvaz, the chaos captured live on state television.

The region’s Arab separatists, once only known for nighttime attacks on unguarded oil pipelines, claimed responsibility for the assault, and Iranian officials appeared to believe the claim. Iran summoned diplomats from Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands early Sunday for allegedly harboring “members of the terrorist group” that launched the attack.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later said the UAE ambassador would be summoned over “partial statements” in support of the group behind the attack, without elaborating.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had earlier blamed regional countries and their “U.S. masters” for funding and arming the separatists, issuing a stark warning as regional tensions remain high in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal.

“Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of Iranian lives,” Zarif wrote on Twitter.

The parade was one of many around the country marking the start of Iran’s long 1980s war with Iraq, commemorations known as the “Sacred Defense Week.”

The attack killed at least 25 people and wounded around 70, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. It said gunmen wore military uniforms and targeted a riser where military and police commanders were sitting. At least eight of the dead served in the Revolutionary Guard, an elite paramilitary unit that answers only to Iran’s supreme leader, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. State TV hours later reported that all four gunmen had been killed.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described the attack as exposing “the atrocity and viciousness of the enemies of the Iranian nation.”

“Their crime is a continuation of the conspiracies by the U.S.-backed regimes in the region which have aimed at creating insecurity in our dear country,” Khamenei said in a statement.

Tensions have been on the rise since the Trump administration pulled out of the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran earlier this year and began restoring sanctions that were eased under the deal. It also has steadily ramped up pressure on Iran to try to get it to stop what Washington calls its “malign activities” in the region.

The U.S. government nevertheless strongly condemned Saturday’s attack and expressed its sympathy, saying it “condemns all acts of terrorism and the loss of any innocent lives.”

Initially, authorities described the assailants as “takfiri gunmen,” a term previously used to describe the Islamic State group. Iran has been deeply involved in the fight against IS in Iraq and has aided Syrian President Bashar Assad in his country’s long civil war.

But later, state media and government officials seemed to come to the consensus that Arab separatists in the region were responsible. The separatists accuse Iran’s Persian-dominated government of discriminating against its ethnic Arab minority.

Khuzestan province also has seen recent protests over Iran’s nationwide drought, as well as economic protests.

Iran has blamed its Mideast archrival, the Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for funding Arab separatists. State media in Saudi Arabia did not immediately acknowledge the attack, though a Saudi-linked, Farsi-language satellite channel based in the United Kingdom immediately carried an interview with an Ahvazi activist claiming Saturday’s attack.

Hamid Baeidinejad, Iran’s ambassador to the U.K., called the channel’s decision a “heinous act” in a post on Twitter and said his country would file a complaint with British authorities over the broadcast. Early Sunday, a Foreign Ministry statement similarly criticized Britain and said Danish and Dutch diplomats were told Iran “already warned” their governments about harboring Arab separatists.

Yacoub Hor al-Tostari, a spokesman for the Arab Struggle Movement to Liberate Ahvaz, told The Associated Press that members of an umbrella group of Ahvazi activists his organization leads carried out the attack.

The attack undermined the Iranian government “on the day it wants to give a message to the world that it is powerful and in control,” al-Tostari said. To bolster his claim, he gave details about one of the attackers that the AP could not immediately verify.

The Islamic State group also claimed responsibility for the attack, but provided no evidence it carried out the assault. They also initially wrongly said the attack targeted Rouhani, who was in Tehran at the time. The militants have made a string of false claims in the wake of major defeats in Iraq and Syria.

The Islamic State group carried out a coordinated assault in June 2017 on parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. At least 18 people were killed and more than 50 wounded.

In the last decade, mass-casualty militant attacks have been incredibly rare. In 2009, more than 40 people, including six Guard commanders, were killed in a suicide attack by Sunni extremists in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province.

A Saudi-led alliance of Arab states launched the largest assault of Yemen’s war on Wednesday with an attack on the main port city, aiming to drive the ruling Houthi movement to its knees at the risk of worsening the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis. Arab warplanes and warships pounded Houthi fortifications to support ground operations by foreign and Yemeni troops massed south of the port of Hodeidah in operation “Golden Victory”. We thought it could not get any worse, but unfortunately we wer

A Saudi-led alliance of Arab states launched the largest assault of Yemen’s war on Wednesday with an attack on the main port city, aiming to drive the ruling Houthi movement to its knees at the risk of worsening the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis.

Arab warplanes and warships pounded Houthi fortifications to support ground operations by foreign and Yemeni troops massed south of the port of Hodeidah in operation “Golden Victory”.

The assault marks the first time the Arab states have tried to capture such a heavily-defended major city since they joined the war three years ago against the Iran-aligned Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa and most of the populated areas.

The Houthis had deployed military vehicles and troops in the city centre and near the port, as coalition warplanes flew overhead striking a coastal strip to the south, one resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. People were fleeing by routes out to the north and west.

CARE International, one of the few aid organisations still operating in Hodeidah, said 30 air strikes had hit the city within half an hour on Wednesday morning.

“Some civilians are entrapped, others forced from their homes. We thought it could not get any worse, but unfortunately we were wrong,” said CARE acting country director, Jolien Veldwijk.

The United Nations fears the assault could drastically worsen already desperate conditions in the region’s poorest country. The city and surrounding area are home to 600,000 people, and the port is the main route for food and aid to reach most Yemenis, 8.4 million of whom are on the verge of famine.

“Under international humanitarian law, parties to the conflict have to do everything possible to protect civilians and ensure they have access to the assistance they need to survive. Right now, nothing is more important,” said Lise Grande, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, who is in Sanaa.

UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said there was a danger of a more immediate crisis if Yemenis began to abandon their homes in large numbers.

Bahrain sees no resolution in sight to a diplomatic row between Qatar and its neighbors, which cut diplomatic and trade ties with the tiny Gulf Arab state nearly a year ago. “The information in our hands today does not indicate any glimmer of hope for a solution now, as the matter does not happen suddenly,” Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa told Alsharq Alawsat newspaper on Sunday. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt severed travel and trad

Bahrain sees no resolution in sight to a diplomatic row between Qatar and its neighbors, which cut diplomatic and trade ties with the tiny Gulf Arab state nearly a year ago.

“The information in our hands today does not indicate any glimmer of hope for a solution now, as the matter does not happen suddenly,” Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa told Alsharq Alawsat newspaper on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt severed travel and trade ties with Qatar last June, alleging it was backing Iran and supporting terrorism. Qatar denies this and says the boycott is an attempt to impinge on its sovereignty and rein in its support for reform.

After initially disrupting Qatar’s imports and triggering the withdrawal of billions of dollars from its banks by depositors from the four states, the world’s top exporter of liquefied natural gas quickly developed new trade routes and deployed tens of billions of dollars from its sovereign wealth fund to protect its domestic lenders.

The dispute has evaded mediation attempts by Kuwait and Washington, which has strong alliances with both sides and fears the split among Sunni Muslim U.S. allies could benefit Iran in a decades-old tussle for influence in the Middle East.

Bahrain’s foreign minister said Qatar was prolonging the crisis by taking its case to Western allies, instead of dealing with it inside the Gulf Arab bloc.

“We were expecting from the beginning of the crisis with Qatar that the emir of Qatar would go to Saudi (Arabia) but this did not happen,” he told the pan-Arab newspaper.

Saudi and UAE officials have said that Doha has yet to meet 13 demands made by the four states, including closing the state-funded Al Jazeera television station and reducing ties to Iran.

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said last week on Twitter that Qatar had not dealt wisely with those demands: “Perhaps the passing of a year of the boycott will produce a new thought and a wiser approach from Doha”.

Delta Air Lines plans to announce new international routes in the coming weeks after U.S. and three Gulf carriers resolved a more than three-year-old dispute over unfair competition, the airline’s CEO said Monday. The Persian Gulf airlines have denied those allegations. He said routes currently served by those three Gulf carriers is “ripe for our opportunity to fly.” Delta called off its Atlanta-Dubai flight in 2015, saying it was because of unfair competition from the Gulf carriers. The United

Delta Air Lines plans to announce new international routes in the coming weeks after U.S. and three Gulf carriers resolved a more than three-year-old dispute over unfair competition, the airline’s CEO said Monday.

Delta and competitors American Airlines and United Airlineshave complained for years about the expansion of three Persian Gulf carriers — Qatar Airways, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways and Dubai-based Emirates Airline, saying they receive state subsidies that have created unfair competition for the U.S. airlines.

In a January 2015 paper, the Partnership for Open and Fair Skies, a lobbying group representing the three U.S. airlines, said the three Middle Eastern carriers have received more than $40 billion in government subsidies and other “unfair advantages in the last decade alone.” The Persian Gulf airlines have denied those allegations.

But on Friday, the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates, home to two of the three carriers mentioned in the dispute, reached a deal in which Etihad and Emirates would open up their books, providing financial statements that are up to international accounting standards. Qatar reached a similar agreement with the U.S. earlier this year.

Delta’s CEO Ed Bastian said the deal would allow Delta to add new destinations.

“We’ve been hurt in India,” he said, although he did not specify which cities Delta is planning to add. He said routes currently served by those three Gulf carriers is “ripe for our opportunity to fly.”

Delta called off its Atlanta-Dubai flight in 2015, saying it was because of unfair competition from the Gulf carriers. United is the only U.S. carrier offering nonstop service to India.

Emirates, which has added flights to the U.S. in recent years, has also introduced what is known as “fifth freedom” flights, flying to or from a destination other than the carrier’s home country, with service to Milan and Athens from the New York City area.

The United Arab Emirates said in a statement that the agreement with the U.S. meant “business as usual by validating all of the rights and benefits — including ‘Fifth Freedom’ services.”

The lobbying group representing the big three U.S. airlines, however, said the United Arab Emirates had agreed that it wouldn’t allow more of those flights.

The United Arab Emirates is making a push to be a major player in the downstream oil market, says Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). The downstream sector refers to processes further down in the petroleum supply chain, specifically oil refining and petrochemical plants, products distributors, retail outlets and gas distribution companies. Gulf nations like the United Arab Emirates have traditionally been dominant in the upstream sector, which covers the exp

The United Arab Emirates is making a push to be a major player in the downstream oil market, says Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

“ADNOC continues to be focused on upstream, yet this time around ADNOC will expand its business focus into downstream by creating many multi-billion dollar opportunities in the downstream. We see a huge growth opportunity in the downstream market,” Al Jaber told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble during an investment forum hosted by the company in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

The downstream sector refers to processes further down in the petroleum supply chain, specifically oil refining and petrochemical plants, products distributors, retail outlets and gas distribution companies. Gulf nations like the United Arab Emirates have traditionally been dominant in the upstream sector, which covers the exploration, extraction and production of crude oil and natural gas.

The state-owned oil company of United Arab Emirates, ADNOC, is the world’s 12th-largest oil company by production, and has more than 55,000 employees. It’s estimated that the UAE holds approximately 6 percent of the world’s crude oil reserves.

“This is a natural extension for Abu Dhabi’s engagement in the oil and gas sector,” the CEO said.

“Now it is time that we expand our portfolio significantly, and the way we are going do this is going to be very smart, centered around establishing long-term strategic partnerships.”

“And we are in the business of value maximization, by going further and downstream we will help stretch the dollar further from every barrel we produce, and this is exactly what we aim to achieve,” he added.